Changing the Tune When It Comes to Making Music

The long legacy of the music industry has always championed those who seemingly had a knack for being able to figure out what songs will work best in the marketplace. Names like Don Kirshner, Quincy Jones and Phil Spector are usually mentioned along these lines, with trust in a particular human being’s ear considered the best gauge possible.

That perception appears to be changing in the era of Big Data, with mountains of information from any number of communication outlets being used to determine how those tasked with making music can sell more of it. This is something that first began to take shape when iTunes emerged over a decade ago and changed the marketing mechanism for music forever.

That monstrous success inevitably led to companies like Spotify and Pandora carving their way into this still-lucrative area, though obviously not with the same impact. However, these companies have found their niche by keeping track of what their customers listen to during the course of every single day, which allows for sharper marketing of songs that they’d appear to like but simply aren’t aware of at the present time.

That ability to customize an experience has led to stronger brand loyalty, which is the essence of any business. Yet it’s far from the only tactic in the arsenal of the industry, with the use of social media and other outlets being funneled together to get a sense of a certain demographic’s musical pulse.

Even songwriting can now be driven by what algorithms uncover through extensive research that was too time-intensive or simply impossible in a different era. Now, information like what are the most popular keys to play a song in, the number of beats it has per minute and the most common words used in lyrics helps create new music.

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The long legacy of the music industry has always championed those who seemingly had a knack for being able to figure out what songs will work best in the marketplace. Names like Don Kirshner, Quincy Jones and Phil Spector are … read more